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IX . Estella Not long afterwards , I received a short note from Estella . She was coming to London , and Miss Havisham wished me to meet her coach . I was so excited that I arrived at the coach office hours too early . Wemmick saw me waiting in the street and invited me to walk with him to Newgate Prison , where he had business . I went with him through the yards and passages . He talked to the prisoners as a gardener talks to his plants , and he knew which of them would be hanged . When I came out , I felt that I was covered with the dust of the prison . I could not bear that Estella should see me so , and I walked up and down , trying to shake it off . When Estella came , she was more beautiful than ever . I was to take her to Richmond , where she would live with a lady who would introduce her into society . “ We have no choice , you and I , but to obey our instructions , ” she said . “ We are not free to follow our own ways , you and I . ” She let me sit with her and hold her hand , and she talked to me in a friendly way . But I could see that she treated me as she pleased . In Richmond many young men came to visit her . I suffered every hour I was with her , and every hour I was away from her . My life in London was not as happy as I had expected . Herbert and I spent much more money than we had , and we both got into debt . I bought fine furniture and fine clothes , and I even hired a servant boy . Herbert looked about him every day for the chance of a good position , but none came . We often sat at night and tried to make lists of our debts , which only made us more miserable . One evening a letter came , edged in black . My sister had died . I went down for the funeral , which Mr Trabb arranged with great pomp , and which Joe hated . That night , after the funeral , I walked in the garden with Biddy . “ I’ll come down often now , Biddy , ” I said . “ I am not going to leave poor Joe alone . ” “ Are you quite sure , then , that you will come to see him often ? ” asked Biddy . “ Biddy , that is a very bad side of human nature ! ” I said , offended . But she was right . I did not come often . I did not come at all . When I was twenty - one , Mr Jaggers called me to his office and gave me a bank note for five hundred pounds . He told me that this was my yearly income now , until the person who gave it chose to appear . “ When that person appears , ” he said , “ my part in this business will cease . ” I decided to use part of my money to help Herbert . Wemmick advised me in his Walworth manner , and together we secretly found a young merchant named Clarriker , who needed help in his business . I paid a large sum , and Herbert was taken into his house as a clerk with the chance of becoming a partner . Herbert never knew that I had done it . He came home one evening full of joy , and I went to bed and cried , because I had done some good with my expectations at last .
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